Mia Doi Todd Lyrics, Photos, Pictures, Paroles, Letras, Text for every songs

B i o g r a p h y
(by Official site)

Mia Doi Todd is from Los Angeles. She has released four albums of her own genre-defying music. The first three, the ewe and the eye (1997), come out of your mine (1999), and zeroone (2001) were solo acoustic recordings. Her last album, The Golden State on Columbia Records (2002), was produced by Mitchell Froom and explored a wider sonic landscape. Mia has also collaborated with many rock/electronica/hip-hop musicians, contributing her unique voice to the tunes of Dntel, Beachwood Sparks, DJ Nobody, Adventure Time, Frausdots, Folk Implosion, The Mission, Saul Williams, Prefuse 73 and more. Here on “Manzanita”, Mia is accompanied by many friends from the indie rock community in L.A. and beyond. Members of Beachwood Sparks, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Future Pigeon, The Tyde, and Dead Meadow helped bring to life a classic collection of songs.

The first song I ever wrote was based on a novella by Italo Calvino. I don't remember how to play it or the other songs I wrote then, teaching myself how to play guitar, finding my voice, my own rhythm. Indie rock was in full swing; everybody was doing it themselves, so I joined in. There was an all-ages club in LA called Jabberjaw. My friends and I would go there, see the new bands from all over the country. I moved to New Haven , Connecticut in 1993 to attend Yale University . Being from Los Angeles , I was accustomed to mild winters, long summers, palm trees and freeways for miles. New England was a surprise. I wrote songs about nature, first loves, heartbreaks and discovered my role as a bard, a folksinger, in the traditions of William Blake, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Nico, Caetano Veloso, Sinead O'Connor. My first album, the ewe and the eye, was recorded at the Spaceshed, the recording studio/garage belonging to the LA band Further. It came out on their label, Xmas Records, in the spring of 1997, as I was graduating from college. I moved to New York City and star ted playing in clubs. Elliot Smith and the Palace Brothers were big influences at the time. That fall, I recorded my second album, come out of your mine, which was released on The Communion Label in 1999. Another great love of mine is dance, in particular Ankoku Butoh, an avant-garde performance art movement which star ted in Tokyo in the 1960's. I lived in Japan for most of 1998, studying first with K azuo and Yoshito Ohno and at Asbestos-kan, and then with Min Tanaka at Body Weather Farm. Life in Tokyo is fast-paced and futuristic. I speak rudimentary Japanese, but my means of outward expression was greatly diminished that year. English became very precious to me, and I star ted to write longer songs, more intricate and complex. Back at home in LA, I recorded these and other songs myself on a Mac G4 and star ted City Zen Records to release my third album, zeroone, in 2001.

My first three albums are solo acoustic recordings, intimate and unadorned. That is the way I write songs—with my guitar or at the piano, finding a pattern I like, how it changes and then staring at the wall until the melody and the lyrics appear. When the song reaches (or best approximates) its Platonic ideal, I congratulate it and let it be.
Over the years, I have performed so many times with just my guitar, sometimes a keyboard. I like to play in between loud bands, be the calm after the storm, before the hurricane. But the existence of a solo performer implies its opposite, fantasia in soundscape, and I star ted to play with a band. They had been called Los Cincos and were renamed Syncopation. Sadly, we never recorded much. I signed a contract with Sony/Columbia, home to some of my idols (or at least their masters), and we recorded “The Golden State,” culling songs from my previous albums. Mitchell Froom and Yves Beauvais helped me produce it. We recorded at the Sunset Sound Factory, a beautiful old studio, all analog. Many people played on it, including my friends K raig Grady and the guitar-virtuoso Nels Cline. “The Golden State ” came out in the fall of 2002 and was generally well received, though one writer did call me “jaw-droppingly pretentious”. For a year, I toured the US and Europe , on my own and then with Alaska ! and Lou Barlow's Folk Implosion. Alas, Sony chose not to renew my contract. But it was time to write songs again. I looked inside myself, drank lots of water. Out came the buds; some turned to flowers.
Manzanita. That is my new album. It is also the name the Spanish gave to a round-leaved bush with smooth, red bark and tiny, bell-shaped blossoms, that grows all over California and the Pacific Coast; they looked to them like little apple trees. My dear friend Brent Rademaker (Further, Beachwood Sparks, Frausdots), who recorded and released my first album, listened to my demos and helped me produce the new songs. We recorded up in Lake Hollywood with Rob Campanella. Many of the songs are still just voice and guitar or piano but others are totally rockin'. Brent played bass as well as some guitar and piano. On drums and percussion were Hunter Crowley, Rick Menck, and Nelson Bragg. Members of Dead Meadow and Beachwood Sparks made cameo appearances, and the entire band Future Pigeon backed me up rocksteady on track 6. Rob engineered all the while, came up with great ideas, and played electric guitar, piano, dulcimer and mandolin.

Digging

Graverobbers better stay away
We’re laying daddy to rest today
And it’s too soon for mamma to be dating
A young man like you

Graverobbers better stay away
We’re clearing out his closets today
And it’s too soon to celebrate
With all those bills left unpaid

Detective Sleuth
Destroyed the proof
To avoid the truth
How daddy fell off the roof

Graverobbers better stay away
We’re laying the pharaoh to rest today
And it’s too soon to excavate
When the stones are still freshly laid

Graverobbers better stay away
We’re embalming the body today
And it’s too soon to investigate
The boobytraps she had made

In Hatshepsut’s tomb
Gold and gems were strewn
All over the rooms
Until your boys came through ‘em

Gravediggers better stay away
I’m not ready to die today
And it’s too soon to anticipate
The time, the place, and the date

Gravediggers better stay away
I just got a glimpse of the light today
And it’s too soon to revelate
When the path is still dim and gray

I’ll need a minute
I’ll need an hour
To earn enough for the tickets
For me and my brother Howard

Planting Time

I lose track of minutes
I lose track of hours
Planting my spinach and cauliflower in my backyard

Not so long ago
I watched time spin around on my wrist
But now time goes as slow or as fas
As the fish pulling on my line

Wildflowers grow
And I think they know
That their sons and daughters will appear here next year
Once again, they’ll be here next year, once again

I lose track of days
I lose track of weeks
Watering my potatoes and my leeks from the creek

I watch the birds swoop down and catch
A fish or a worm as they wait for their eggs to hatch, to hatch
The redwoods grow so slow you never know
But then rings can tell us things we’d never know, never know
Oh yeah, rings tell you things you’d never know

I lose track of months
I lose track of years
Harvesting my turnips and oiling my gardening shears

There’s no time for love today
Too many things from above in the way
But I could have sworn
That this was worth more
Than a moon rock planted on the moon

No more tears in my ears, lying awake
Nor more fears, restless years of heartache
But I could have sworn that this was worth more
That a sigh amidst the tornado

But there’s no time for love tonight
One last hug and kiss goodnight

Stoke the fire

Demon smoke pours from a fire,
Feathers through a room
Wild contortions, sprouting beanstalks
Fruit born on the loom

Brooms start dancing Latin tangos
Dragging spoons along
To play the man to dip the lady
Into the fire’s arms

Let’s stoke the fire with our fingers
Hands glowing hot, burning red
Let’s throw another limb upon it
And lay ourselves down to bed

We scorch our hair and char our teeth
Run round bald and sooted
Our clothes to ashes will be turned
Our bodies nude and barefooted

The air is thick with shirttails past
Gray clouds rising from skin
Encircling bums and breasts and elbows
Sizzling a serpentine grin

Let’s stoke the fire with our fingers
Hands glowing hot, burning red
Let’s throw another limb upon it
And lay ourselves down to bed

We cry in joy and laugh in pain
A chimney to ascend
All tears are dried in heaps of carbon
Dissolving all bookends

Blue Moon

Drove deep into the redwoods
And found a drive-in movie screen
And an owl to take the ticket
Lying in the passenger seat
I parked the car at the center of the clearing
Rolled down the window to catch the breeze

I parked the car at the center of the clearing
Rolled back the seat to get a look at the screen
The blue moon rose up behind me
Casting the shadows on the trees
Like men and mothers and children
On the drive-in movie screen

I saw in the car, sat and watched
And listened to the wolves howl at the moon
I saw in the car, sat and watched
And listened to the moon

The figures blurred and faded
As the moon rose up above me
And I peered around at the forest
Accomplice to this movie
I got out of the car with the moon at high noon
Stood in the shadow and cast on the ground
I got out of the car with the moon at high noon
Laid down in the dirt, face towards the light

Staring into the projection booth
I saw traces of a face like mine
In the mountain and valleys, dry lakes and craters
Of a stone cold satellite
Got back in the car, drove it away
Back to a bright city and a warm bed
Got back in the car, drove it away
Headlights to spy on the trees

True Love

Fall asleep, my only one
Dream of me and what’s to come
All I fell is your touch
All I want is your love

Fall asleep, my little dove
Count your sheep as I fall in love
All I feel is your touch
All I want is your love

Like a wrecking ball
You tore down my walls
Like a choo-choo train
You tunnelled through my brain
Like a bulldozer
You gave me full exposure
Like dynamite
You tore me up all night
Like a wrecking ball
Like dynamite
You tore down my walls
You tore me up all night

Give me your heart in a tin cup
‘Cause gold won’t mean much
To true love, true love
True love, true love

Give me your heart in silence
‘Cause words might confine us
True love, true love
True love, true love

Give me your heart in confidence
‘Cause life’s nothing but impermanence
True love, true love
True love, true love

Fall asleep, my only one
Dream of me and what’s to come
All I fell is your touch
All I want is your love

Fall asleep, my only friend
Dream of me
And how this will end

Hills On Fire

The hills are on fire, my friend
Where can we go
To escape the dire consequence
Of letting this go

The hills are on fire, my friend
Where can we go
To admire, as night descends
The hills’ burning glow

We’ll carve a path
Of flames through the brush
The wind’s at our backs
So there’s no need to rush
Not so much

The hills are on fire, my friend
They’re burning low
‘Cause the hills have grown tired, my friend
Of lying fallow

We’ll carve a path
Of flames through the brush
The wind’s at our backs
So there’s no need to rush

We’ll care a path
Of flames through the brush
A casual laugh
I want you so much, so much

Nightblooming Trilogy

Nightblooming jasmine
Nightblooming jasmine
Seeps through the crack
In your window glass

Nightblooming jasmine
Nightblooming jasmine
Open your door
Step out onto the porch

Nightblooming jasmine
Nightblooming jasmine
I’ll let you in
If you promise me one thing
I’ll let you in
If you'll be here in the morning

Nightblooming jasmine
Nightblooming jasmine
Vanishes
With the sunrise
You never notice
Until you open your eyes

Nightblooming jasmine
Nightblooming jasmine

The woman who drank poison
To keep her body frail
The woman who drank poison
To keep her skin very pale
She knew the night
So much more intimately than I

The woman who drank poison
To know a harder life
The woman who drank poison
To know a better life
She knew herself
More than I know myself

The woman who drank poison
To feel less at odds with death
The woman who drank poison
To feel more in control of her life
She understood
More than I understand

The woman who drank poison
The woman who drank poison
The woman who drank poison
The woman who drank poison

Two ends of a tunnel
Meet in total darkness
Will you plan to meet me there
Noontime tomorrow, I’ll be making my way
Out of the sun
Towards the darkness and towards you

There's a darker in the darkness
Is that your silhouette
Or is it me casting a shadow
On the ground

I call out your name
Towards the darker in the darkness
“Is that you come to meet me here?”

Two ends of a tunnel
Meet in total darkness
Will you plan to meet me there

Courting

If I were a kangaroo
I'd wanna carry you
In my pocket

If I were a Koala bear
I'd wanna always have you there
In my pocket

Would you be my baby
Would you be my baby

If I were a Chimpanzee
I'd take you out dancing
In my jungle

If I were an orangutan
I’d want you to come and hang
Around my jungle

Would you be my monkey
Would you be my monkey

If I were a nightingale
My songs would float like a trail
Behind you

If I were an Albatross
They'd be no sea or ocean
I wouldn't cross
To find you

Would you be my birdie
Would you be my birdie

If I were your next door neighbor
I’d provide anonymous favors everyday

If I were just a casual acquaintance
I’d renew my vow of determined patience everyday

Would you be my baby
Would you be my monkey
Would you be my birdie
And could I be your baby

Set Sail

Let's set sail in our little ship
Let's discover a continent
For just you and me

Let's set sail in our little ship
Let's discover a continent
For just you and me

We’ll pack the ship full of things good to eat
Fishing rods and wine to drink
We'll while away the evening hours
Lounging round this ship of ours

Let's set sail in our little ship
Let's discover a continent
For just you and me

Let's set sail in our little ship
Let's discover a continent
For just you and me

The first one to set eyes on land
Will take the other by the hand
And pointing to the horizon
The one will say: “Our journey’s almost done.”

Let's set sail in our little ship
Let's discover a continent
For just you and me

Stacking logs and thatching a roof
Making sure it’s all weatherproof
The freshest water and the richest soil
Side by side through a hard day’s toil

Let's set sail in our little ship
Let's discover a continent
For just you and me

Seasons come and seasons go
My belly waxing to and fro
The suckling ones grow bigger then they
Build their own house around the bend

Let's set sail in our little ship
Let's discover a continent
For just you and me

Johnny Appleseed

Cornmeal mush is all you took for
Thirty thousand miles on foot
Come inside, stay a while
I’ll fix you things to eat

I’ll offer you some clothes too loose
A soft bed and someone else’s shoes
Come inside, stay a while
Rest your tired feet

Haunted by a recurring dream
Of the girl you left hanging from an apple tree
Johnny Appleseed wanders the countryside
Keeping to his task to keep out the rest
Johnny Appleseed, right fresh from heaven sighed:
“Please, let me make it up to strangers.

In Ohio, all the farmers wives
Thanked you with fresh apple pies
And hurried to mend the tears in your pants
Dumbfounded by their kindness and embarrassed by your shyness
You slipped out the backdoor at the first chance

Haunted by a recurring dream
Of the girl you left hanging from an apple tree
Johnny Appleseed wanders the countryside
Keeping to his task to keep out the rest
Johnny Appleseed, right fresh from heaven sighed:
“Please, let me make it up to strangers.

The famished cow you rescued from the
Wealthy rotten Farmer John
Offered, in gratitude, to turn itself to gold
But you declined the offer, saying: “That was not for profit,”
And ushered the straggler back into her fold

No no no, I know
You owe me nothing
No no no, I know
I'm not your job
No no no, I know
We should just walk away
We both know we know it's hard

Autumn comes to a seaside town
A little later than the rest
The leaves hold on a little longer
Than they would have out west

No no no, I know
You owe me nothing
No no no, I know
I'm not your job
No no no, I know
We should just walk away
We both know we know it's hard

The leaves let go, so let them go
The leaves let go, so let them go
The leaves let go, so let them go
The leaves let go, so let them

Independence Day

There's a battleship parked in the river
Reenacting, open doors, open arms then open fire
There are mushroom clouds and machine-gunned copters descending
In the snapcracklepop fizzle of the fireworks
As they blast into the night air breathed in
By innumerable passengers screaming
"We are Number One "

Independence Day
Our Freedom is won
To choose our own way
When to go, what's to come
But with each tie we break
There is sacrifice
How many lives will it take ?
How many loves just must die ?

There's a man I just met
He hasn't kissed me yet
He reminds me of someone else, only better
But I'm made ou of wax, so easy to impress
Am I melting too fast, dripping into your lips ?
Because all my heroes have turned human this year
Slinking 'round pool-tables, sinking into unflabled stupers
Whispering into the night air or into some girl's hair
" I am Number One "

Independence Day
Our Freedom is won
To choose our own way
When to go, what's to come
But with each tie we break
There is sacrifice
How many lives will it take ?
How many loves just must die ?

There's a battleship parked in the Charles river
Shooting off fireworks that light up the world, then fall in the water
My love's next to me, head full of the next century
And wandering whether there'll be a wedding tomorrow
And the secret smoke signals in the aftermath of gunpowder
Seem the most significant indication of what's to come

Independence Day
Our Freedom is won
To choose our own way
When to go, what's to come
But with each tie we break
There is sacrifice
How many lives will it take ?
How many loves just must die ?

Strawberries

Walking the tightrope
Now no consequences
Walking the tightrope
Numb and defenceless

I knocked on your door
And you answered quite quickly
Said I could not come in
But we could walk around the garden together
Arm in arm, enjoying the weather
And inspecting the crops
Green beans in profusion, long and straight
Burdering the wine like weeping willow
Ripe red tomatoes, soft and sweet
Perched upon their furry stalk
Begging you to pluck
Crisp cucumbers proud bell peppers
Radiating eighteen shades of life

Life life life life
Life life life life life

Life life life life
Life life life life life

One green plastic basket of extra large
Extra sweet, extra well-fed strawberries
We ate them one by one 'til there was just one left
The largest, sweetest, extra fancy
And then we alternated bite by bite until it was all gone
Then it was all gone
All gone

Walking the tightrope
Now no consequences
Walking the tightrope
Numb and defenceless

Can you spare any change for me tonight ?
I need something to eat, somewhere to sleep tonight
Can you spare any change for me tonight ?
I need something to hold, something to hold me tonight
Can you spare any change for me tonight ?
I need someone to love, someone to love me tonight

Life life life life
Life life life life life

Life life life life
Life life life life life

Walking the tightrope

Jackals

Jackals hide behind handsome faces
Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, remind me, remind me

In a bedroom of a brick & stuck house
A girl in Seersucker pants reached for a book
To pass the day away

Not yet knowing the proper way to read
The girl took the tales as fact and cried all afternoon

After dinner and after her daily bath
Clean-skinned and dump-haired she lay down to bed
As the lights went out

Under an Amish quilt and inside her flannel pajamas
The girl wrestled with troubled thoughts
Troubled sleep, troubled dreams

The elevator opens on
A while frost-bitten world
I step out and the doors slide closed
Leaving me alone
With the only one who could hurt me

Jackals hide behind handsome faces
Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, remind me, remind me

Old Giapetto sold all his winter clothes
To buy books for his wooden son
Who lied, lied through his nose
And when the circus wagon came rollin' through the town
The boy jumped aboard and left
Not even a note

In desperation over this disappearance
The old man with arthritic hands tore down his house
Plank by plank
And carried each one by one, down to the harbour
Trading his shoes for some nails and a hammer to build
To build himself a boat

The waters are wide
But I will find my child
I'll set out into the sun
Until I met my end
In the belly of a whale

Jackals hide behind handsome faces
Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, remind me, remind me

Nineteen eithy two, Mercedes Blues and the rumbling sputter
Of a diesel engine and the gooseflesh returns
Isn't it a pity, isn't it a shame
We can't see ourselves inside this moving sedans
The windshield's too busy to reflect
The outside looks lovely and oh so tempting
The light on the smokestacks and water towers beckons me
Beckons to me
So hello, my newfound friend Disaster
Come sit down at our round-table
Let us ask your advices
Should we bring on the accident ?

Drive on my friends
There's love beyond this bend
Sky's falling doctor's calling
But still it's worth the wait
Time's passed
Time is passing
And time will pass

Jackals hide behind handsome faces
Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, remind me, remind me

Save me

While I wait for my lover to come
I while away the bitter boredom
But I won't go to sleep
Until my lover comes
I won't go to sleep
'Til my lover comes

While I wait for my lover to come
I waste away in the bathtub
But i won't get out
Until my lover comes
No I won't go to sleep
Until my lover comes

Save me my darling
Save me my sweet thing
Baptize me clean
And I'll be yours forever more

While I wait for my lover to come
The demon calls to measure my love
But I won't answer the door
Until my lover comes
I will not answer the door
Until my lover comes

Hijikata Tatsumi

He danced on his deathbed
And so performed his final dance
For friends, family and lovers
And all those who'd had the chance
To know him, to love him
To know him, to love him

My domesticated body
And my mind by moderation tamed
Seethe within my xeroxcopied skin
And I ask him
"Is all freedom dark ?"

He danced on his deathbed
And so performed his final dance
For friends, family and lovers
And all those who'd had the chance
To know him, to love him
To know him, to love him

One thousand and one birds
Take off in an instant
Flying feeling-filling through the air
And I ask them
"Is all freedom light ?"

He danced on his deathbed
And so performed his final dance
For friends, family and lovers
And all those who'd had the chance
To know him, to love him
To know him, to love him

Your room

I try
To remember your room

There were three doors
Leading to bathroom, closet, living-room
And there were two windows
With their blinds always drawn
To keep out other people's eyes
And the harsh summer sunlight
As you sat on your downy white bed

I try
To remember your room

Cinderblock bookshelves laden with
Pretty picturebooks to look at
As I sat on your downy white bed
Learning about people, times and places
I'd probably never know

I try
To remember your room

Three big drawings on thick white paper
That would billow with the summer breeze
Over our heads
As we sat
On your downy white bed
Looking at children's drawings, convict watercolors
And eventually
The three paintings that I made thee

I try
To remember your room

Sunday Afternoon

We saw a movie
We saw a waterfall
We saw an ocean
We saw a lot of Baseball

Close the curtains
Let's stay home after all

We saw a movie
"Jesus of Montreal"
We saw a Gipsy
At a carnival

Close the curtains
Let's stay home after all

Sunday afternoon
It's a sunny day in my living room
I've got the greys, and I've got the blues
Of Sunday afternoons

We saw a movie
Shot in Paris, France
And we felt groovy
Fell into a trance

Close the curtains
While we still have the chance

Sunday afternoon
It's a sunny day in my living room
I've got the greys, and I've got the blues
Of Sunday afternoons

We saw a movie
We saw a starry sky
We saw each other
By candlelight

Close the curtains
Let's stay home tonight

I've got a gun

I've got a gun and a pocket full of bullets
I'm gonna shoot you down
You've got a gun and a pocket full of bullets
You've gonna shoot me down

And then we'll both be too dead
To make love in the living room
And then we'll both be too dead
To have fun making the baby boom

I've got a gun and a pocket full of bullets
I'm gonna shoot you down
You've got a gun and a pocket full of bullets
You've gonna shoot me down

And then we'll both be too dead
To see freedom coming over the mountain
And then we'll both be too dead
To kiss and make up at our homecoming

Life's not elegant, Mum
Whatever your calling is
Life's not elegant, Mum
Whatever you're calling it
I'm changing the face of warfare
And I'm changing the face of warfare
I've got a gun and a pocket full of bullets
And you've got a gun and a pocket full of bullets
And I'm gonna shoot you down
And you've gonna shoot me down

You're getting sleepy now
Your eyes they close no matter
How hard you try to overpower my powers

You're getting sleepy now
Your eyes they close no matter
How hard you try to overpower my powers

Spring

Break all my bones
I'll learn to walk again
Break all my bones
I'll learn to dance again
Here comes the springtime
April rains bring May blooms
Here comes the timechange
Green lawns and long afternoons

Wipe off all my charms
I'll learn to fly again
Wipe off all my charms
I'll learn to breathe underwater again
Here comes the springtime
Daffodils in Easter hats
Here comes the timechange
Spring forward, no more falling back

Laugh at all my dreams
I'll learn to see again
Laugh at all my dreams
I'll learn to hope and to try again
Here comes the springtime
Bare branches give birth to leaves
Here comes the timechange
Holding a new hand, grateful for the breeze

Still my swollen lips
I'll learn to speak again
Still my swollen lips
I'll learn to sing again

Strange world

There is a strange wind in the air today
Tree branches are budding and then blown away
There is a strange wind in the air today
Spiny pods are dropping and then drift away
But they will be blown into the next millenium
And I promise myself I'm coming with them

There is a strange wind in the air today
My skirt lifts up, my hair's astray
There is a strange wind in the air today
My little body's born up and then thrown away
But I will be born into the next millenium
I jump aboard the ship of bored, lost children

There is a strange wind in the air today
I fill up my hot-air balloon
And untie my stakes

And I will be blown into the next millenium
And I will be born into the next millenium

Age

Today's not an age made for maidens
But I am the age of a maiden
Maiden eyes, maiden lips
Maiden thighs, maiden hips
Maiden nose, maiden knows

Today's not an age shaped for shepherds
But you are the age of a shepherd
Shepherd hands, shepherd feet
Shepherd glands, shepherd heartbeat
Shepherd nose, shepherd knows

Today's not an age partial to pastures
But here we are in a pasture
Past your eyes, passed my lips
Past your thighs, passez my hips
Past your nose
And the pasture knows

The river and the ocean

I am a river in the ocean
Particles spread far and thin
But I can still remember what I was then
Now I am something greater, though less of what I was
The day that I discovered I was a river in the ocean

I am a bird whistling in the dark
Stuck in this cavernous mine
When silence falls, you know it's time to start running
I am a bird that's never seen much light
Stuck in this cavernous ark
Soon they'll send me out to look for land
And I'll bring back a little bark

I am a stroller in the park
Wrapped 'round this beautiful babe
I and the dark skinned womanpushing me are its slaves
I am a stroller in the park
Walking my flypaper skin through the balmy august air
Which sucks my body's waters from within

I am a river in the ocean
Particles spread far and thin
But I can still remember what I was then
Now I am something greater, though less of what I was
The day that I discovered I was a river in the ocean
Just a river in the ocean
Just a river in the ocean

But I'm waiting for the rainstorm
To take me back upstream
And I'm waiting for the brainstorn
To fill me back to the brim
So bring on the lightning
This midnight orange sky grows frightening
Break the water for me

Cause I'm waiting for the rainstorm
To take me back upstream
And I'm waiting for the brainstorn
To fill me back to the brim
So bring on the lightning
This midnight orange sky grows frightening
Break the water for me

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream
Life is but a dream
Life is but a dream

And what's the difference between nothing and everything
And what's the difference between noone and everyone
And what's the difference between nowhere and everywhere
Everything, everyone and everywhere
Everything, everyone and everywhere
But what's the difference

But I'm waiting for the rainstorm
To take me back upstream
And I'm waiting for the brainstorn
To fill me back to the brim
So bring on the lightning
Bring on the enlightning
Break the water for me

Digital

Digital, binary system, ones and zeroes, dark versus light,
Yin and yang, x and y, my mother and my father made me one night

In the beginning, a murky mass of hydrogen helium voted to organize
Into higher elements, carbon nitrogen and oxygen, protons electrons collide.

Digital, binary system, ones and zeroes, dark versus light,
Yin and yang, x and y, my mother and my father made me one night

Forbidden fruit
Rotting on the vine
Forbidden fruit
Turning to wine
Intoxicating, intoxicating

????
Nakedly we lay in an ecstatic embrace, trying not to come
Too quickly, one minute rise, plastic bagged lubricated safety tube

This is not a through street, one cannot pass here
But where me and you meet to graze the divine pastures
This is not a through street, one cannot pass here
But run and jump with two feet and break through all the matter

Throw your body to the edge of crisis
Paradise is everywhere.
Throw your body to the edge of crisis
Paralysis is everywhere

Digital, binary system, ones and zeroes, dark versus light,
Yin and yang, x and y, my mother and my father in me still fight

Clogged veins arteries threaten minor heartattacks traffic jams prevail
Thefoolthefish that failed to merge like the others did into one of two opposing schools
Of population in transition, information transference overload
Circuitboard’s a sign of a city understanding, synapses awakening mind
Citystate citizen citymeditate citymedecine

Proteinzoned prozac, hormonefortified malefemales feel no ails
From the moon revolving ‘round us, pulling tides and currents, blood dripping out of tune
Seedless grapes tangerines longer lasting better tasting obedient mules

This is not a through street; one cannot pass here
But where me and you meet to graze the divine pastures
This is not a through street; one cannot pass here
But run and jump with two feet and break through all the matter

Throw your body to the edge of crisis
Paradise is everywhere
Throw your body to the edge of crisis
Paralysis is everywhere

Digital, binary system, ones and zeroes, dark versus light
Yin and yang, x and y, my mother and my father in me unite

Visited by my ancestress
Falling from her wilderness
Through my bedroom window
A dragon with sizzling breath
A dragon with fourteenfootlong breasts
To pass her ticking life on
To suckle if you want
You came you saw got what you wanted
And now you’ll go satisfied alone
To stagnate wait for something better never comes
The doldrums drone on

And duplicate multiply rabbitly to the horizon
Can’t see nothing but horrible to the horizon
Can’t see nothing but horrible to the horizon

Digital, binary system, ones and zeroes, dark versus light
Yin and yang, x and y, my mother and my father made me one night

Poppy Fields

I scrub my blackened feet
Scrape off the caked on grime of the street
I wash my hands and face
Of the Worldly soot that accumulate
In the day-in day-out farcical strife
In the humdrum of everyday life
And I enter my home clean
Step up to the hearth I've deemed my own

I sit down on the bidet
And shower my flower of the decay
That sets in when she lets in a guest
For recreation no creation, her slight protest
And I enter my bed clean
Lay down my head and dream of another world
Another world, another world

The desert springs to life
The golden chaparral gives up her rights
To poppy fields for miles
And purple lupin lavender behind
Another world

Waking with the sun
The poppy petals peel back to open
And turn the hills orange
To start another cycle of seasons
Another world

We dance as whooping cranes
Who once again have found their lifetime mates
We bound across the plains
Roll down slopes, fill our white coats with stains
Of another world

We come to rest as one
At the bottom of the hill, start to make love
We lean against the earth
Rocking back and forth and back and forth, back and forth
Another world

Under a wild sky setting sun
We ride the waves towards something still to come
Another world, another world
Another world, another world

Obsession

O, my obsession
O, my obsession
Will I see you tomorrow
Will I renew my sorrow

Be like someone else now
You’ve wasted much time in the henhouse
I wear the clown’s nose
But the elastic band
Sometimes goes snap
And I go scrambling
Across the floor
Apologetically babbling

Elle
Elle pourrait comprendre
Si tu m’embrasses
(sera sera)
Comme un enfant

Why Princess Diana
I see your face in the hands of
Hong Kong kids summer ninety seven
On the Bowery above Canal Chinatown Manhattan
Mimeographed flyers
In memoriam

O, my obsession
O, B-I-L-L-Y my obsession
Will I see you tomorrow
Will I renew my sorrow

Ziggurat

Ziggurats are built only to crumble
We approach the gods
Then prepare to tumble down
Love’s a kind of knowledge
You’ve written that on your arm
The kind you learn in college
In cafes and beds and bars
And I am studying my youth away
For they will take my island
Of that much I’m sure
The tides roll in from Thailand
To pilfer my shores, grain by grain
By grain, they drive me insane.
I still drive under you influence
Crawling cross-country
A year and a day of St. Louis misery
With my tail between my legs
And my shoulders hunched.
There’s a shell on the beach
For every broken home
And we pick up the pieces
From out the seafoam
But our hands are too weak
And small to hold them all

Walking across the grass
I’ve got a peaceful feeling
How long will this moment last
When will I hit the ceiling
Shatter this beautiful feeling
Into all those disregardable pieces
Walking across the grass
I’ve got a peaceful feeling
Looking forward
And through the past
To see without seeing
Into the sea of seathing
Timespacematter where
Nothing’s the matter

I am all alone
You are all alone
Her we are alone
Together tonight
I am all inside
You are all inside
How to get inside
Each other tonight
Hey you otter
Crack open my shell
Hey you oughta
Dive deep for my pearl

Bound Feet & Feathered

The safety behind bars and in motorcycle sidecars keeps me
Asleep all night, deep alright, so I’m not frightened by the dark
My ears tucked in my pillow, hear not the wind blow
I’m a passenger, a prisoner. The will is not my own
And when the customs officer asks if I’ve anything to declare
I keep my mouth shut, so no one will mess with me

The theater in nightclubs from Kabukicho to Las Vegas
Shine the brightest stages, keep the tightest cages
Swap the playbills for girls
Bound feet & feathered, high-heeled and horned
They do the can-can to the salariman, kowtowed and scorned
And when the customs officer asks if I’ve anything to declare
I keep my mouth shut, so no one will mess with me

I hem my pants the appropriate length, so there’ll be less chance
Of me tripping in the street or of tracking mud from my soiled cuff
Onto my neighbor’s rug, among other stuff, their pristine white sheets
I knock on their door, once one has gone to work
And I slip in, dip in, to my neighbor’s wet purse
And when the customs officer asks if I’ve anything to declare
I keep my mouth shut, so no one will mess with me

The safety behind bars and in motorcycle sidecars keeps me
Asleep all night, deep alright, so I’m not frightened by the dark
My ears tucked in my pillow, hear not the wind blow
I’m a passenger, a prisoner. The will is not my own
And when the customs officer asks if I’ve anything to declare
I keep my mouth shut, so no one will mess with me

Merry Me

Once I was enslaved to a human being
What to do today now that I'm free
Merry me, merry me, merry me
Is this how it feels to realize one's dreams

Once I was enslaved to a human being
My mother, my lover, next who will it be
Marry me, marry me, marry me
I'm happiest in the pursuit of liberty

Once I was enslaved to a human being
One half the saint and the other the villain
Marry me, marry me, marry me
Kiss the only hand there in emergency
Marry me, marry me, marry me
Kiss the only hand there 'til eternity

Once I was enslaved to a human being
What to do today now that I'm free
Merry me, merry me, merry me
Is this how it feels to realize my dreams

Can I

Can I think I can, I can I think, think I can
Can I think I can, I can I think, think I can

Take my raging bull by the horns
And ride her cross barren plains and dark forests

Somewhere between devotion and indifference
Volatile daydreaming, waxing waning wallowing
Then wide-eyed, oh wide-eyed

Can I think I can, I can I think, think I can
Can I think I can, I can I think, think I can

Fight to defend and survive
No more yielding helpless hopeless to the weight of time

Somewhere between devotion and indifference
Volatile daydreaming, waxing waning wallowing
Then wide-eyed, oh wide-eyed

Somewhere between devotion and indifference
Volatile daydreaming, waxing waning wallowing
Then wide-eyed, oh wide-eyed

Can I think I can, I can I think, think I can
Can I think I can, I cannot think, cannot think
Cannot think, cannot think

In other people's opinions, I swell or shrink
In other people's opinions, I swell or shrink

Can I think I can, I cannot think, cannot think
Cannot think, cannot think

On other people's opinions, I swim or sink
On other people's opinions, I swim or sink

Can I think I can, I cannot think, cannot think
Cannot think, cannot think

Grandma, hold my hand now
These steps are steep and uneven even
My little legs are a-trembling
Working so hard to keep up, keep up
With everyone walking so fast
Leaving us two behind behind

Pull me ‘round the block in the wagon
Pull me as fast, as fast as you can
Feed me all the things you’ve been hiding
From Uncle Art in his upstairs bedroom
Where are the trays that fold out
So we can eat watching television

Can I think I can, I cannot think, cannot think
Cannot think, cannot think

In other people's opinions, I swell or shrink
On other people's opinions, I swim or sink

Can I think I can, I cannot think, cannot think
Cannot think, cannot think

Grandma, hold my hand now
These steps are steep and uneven even
Your little legs are a-trembling
Working so hard to keep up, keep up
With everyone walking so fast
Leaving us two behind behind

Can I think I can, I can I think, think I can
Can I think I can, I can I think, think I can

Take my raging bull by the horns
And ride her cross barren plains and dark forests
Fight to defend and survive
No more yielding helpless hopeless to the weight of time

Somewhere between devotion and indifference
Volatile daydreaming, waxing waning wallowing
Then wide-eyed, oh wide-eyed

Somewhere between devotion and indifference
Volatile daydreaming, waxing waning wallowing
Then wide-eyed, oh wide-eyed

Can I

Amnesia

We drove out to the Long Island shore
With Bobo’s body on the backseat floor
Parked the car and hauled her out to the waves to say our goodbyes
Seven eight times she came rolling back—our shirtsleeves waterlogged
Her fur just damp. We took her in our arms and with all our might
Flung her into the recessing tide and prayed, ninth time’s a charm
Just then the sunset exploded from o’er the dunes where we stood frozen
And from the brilliant shades of purple pink and orange
We knew she would not return as a dog
Our puppies go blind deaf an senile then die in our arms
Seven eight waves of denial then ninth tide’s the charm

Three white pages all covered with Braille
the hand-woven lacework of a young bride’s veil
lean up against this shooting gallery wall
an anonymous letter for an autonomous fall
I love you I miss you I need you
I walk out aimlessly through leaf-strewn streets
Wonder why the elms have gone extinct
Pass factory buildings, all brick and brawn
Ghosts of a revolution come and gone
And I stop at the bridge built between us
Our lovers go blind deaf and senile, then die in our arms
Seven eight waves of denial, then ninth tide’s the charm

Amnesia we’ve fallen and gotten up
To feel the hole where there once was love
Amnesia we’ve fallen and gotten up
To feel the freedom of an empty cup
Our puppy loves go blind deaf and senile, then die in our arms
Seven eight waves of denial, then ninth tide’s the charm
Amnesia we’ve fallen and gotten up
To see the beauty of a setting sun

Like a knife

Like a knife
Come to slit my ties
To the past
To all the things which bind
Me to the grave
You came
You came in the morning
After a long night
You came in the morning
After a dark night

I stared into the knife
To see if it would hurt me
Threaten my life
Use me and desert me
To a decision, I came
I came in the morning
After a long night
I came in the morning
After a dark night

I took the knife
Slid it under my belt
Was so surprised
At the joy I felt
To come out of the mourning
After a long night
To come out of the mourning
After a dark night

Like a knife
Come to slit our ties
To the past
To all the things which bind
Us to the grave
We came
We came in the morning
After a long night
We came in the morning
After a dark night

Tugboat

When the tugboat tires of pulling someone else’s weight
When the tugboat tires of giving all the credit away
There’ll be silence in the factories
Empty shelves and pantries
Just you wait

When the tugboat tires of sweating for minimum wages
When the tugboat tires of swallowing its pride and rage
There will be weeds by the million
There will be hedges needing trimming
There will be chamberpots overflowing
There’ll be conglomerates undergoing
Sudden change

When the tugboat tires of pulling someone else’s weight
When the tugboat tires of giving all the credit away
There will be one less in the bed that night
No one to undress you that night, just you wait
‘Til the tugboat tires

88 Ways

Gravity and entropy
They have it out inside of me

Eighty-eight ways to build and destroy
I dig my own grave. I carve my decoy.
O. What should I be in this world so self-destructing
O, what should I be in this world so self-constructing

Eighty-eight ways to build and destroy
I fuel my decay. I trample my joy
O, what should I be in this world so self-destructing
O, what should I be in this world so self-constructing

Gravity and entropy
They have it out inside of me

The hermit and the hero walk in parallel lines
One with bow and arrow, the other bowed eyes
In the house of mirrors
Looking different but the same
One pendulum swings from loving
To and back from disdain

Eighty-eight ways to build and destroy
I dig my own grave. I carve my decoy
O, what should I be in this world so self-destructing
O, What should I be in this world so self-constructing

Gravity and entropy
They have it out inside of me

Digital

Digital, binary system, ones and zeroes, dark Versus light
Yin and yang, x and y, my mother and my father made me one night

In the beginning, a murky mass of hydrogen helium
Voted to organize into higher elements
carbon nitrogen and oxygen, protons electrons collide

Digital, binary system, ones and zeroes, dark versus light
Yin and yang, x and y, my mother and my father made me one night

Forbidden fruit rotting on the vine
Forbidden fruit turning to wine. Intoxicating.
Nakedly we lay in an ecstatic embrace, trying not to come too quickly
One minute rise, plastic bagged lubricated safety tube

This is not a through street; one cannot pass here
But where me and you meet to graze the divine pastures
This is not a through street; one cannot pass here
But run and jump with two feet
And break through all the matter

Throw your body to the edge of crisis
Paralysis is everywhere
Throw your body to the edge of crisis
Paradise is everywhere

Digital, binary system, ones and zeroes, dark versus light
Yin and yang, x and y, my mother and my father
In me still fight, in me unite.

Independence day

There's a battleship parked in the river
Reenacting open doors, open arms, then open fire
There are mushroom clouds and machine-gunned copters descending
In the snap crackle pop fizzle of the fireworks
As they blast into the night air breathed in by innumerable passengers
Screaming "We Are Number One."

Independence Day, our freedom is won
To choose our own way, when to go, what's to come
But with each tie we break, there is sacrifice
How many lives will it take ? How many loves just must die

There's a man I just met, he hasn't kissed me yet
He reminds me of someone else, only better
But I'm made out Of wax, so easy to impress
Am I melting too fast, dripping into your lips
Because all my heroes have turned human this year
Slinking 'round pool tables, sinking into unfabled stupors
Whispering in the night air or into some girl's hair
"I Am Number One."

There's a battleship parked in the Charles River
Shooting off fireworks that light up the world
Then fall in the water
My love's next to me, head full of the next century
And wondering whether there'll be a wedding tomorrow
And the secret smoke signals
In the aftermath of gunpowder
Seem the most significant indication of what's to come

Merry Me

Once I was enslaved to a human being
What to do today now that I'm free
Merry me, merry me, merry me
Is this how it feels to realize one's dreams

Once I was enslaved to a human being
My mother, my lover, next who will it be
Marry me, marry me, marry me
I'm happiest in pursuit of liberty

Once I was enslaved to a human being
One half the saint and the other the villain
Marry me, marry me, marry me
Kiss the only hand there in emergency
Marry me, marry me, marry me
Kiss the only hand there 'til eternity

Once I was enslaved to a human being
What to do today now that I'm free
Merry me, merry me, merry me
Is this how it feels to realize my dreams

Like a knife

Like a knife come to slit my ties to the past
To all the things which bind me to the grave, you came
You came in the morning after a long night
You came in the morning after a dark night

I stared into the knife. to see if it would hurt me
Threaten my life, use me and desert me
To a decision, I came.
I came in the morning after a long night
I came in the morning after a dark night

I took the knife, slid it under my belt
Was so surprised at the joy I felt
To come out of the mourning, I came
I came out of the mourning after a long night
I came out of the mourning after a dark night

Like a knife come to slit our ties to the past
To all the things which bind us to the grave, we came
We came in the morning after a long night
We came in the morning after a dark night

Autumn

No no no, I know
You owe me nothing
No no no, I know
I'm not your job
No no no. I know
We should just walk away
We both know we know it's hard

Autumn comes to a seaside town
A little later than the rest
The leaves hold on a little longer
Than they would have out West

The leaves let go, so let them go
The leaves let go, so let them go
The leaves let go, so let them go
The leaves let go, so let them

Growing pains

I've been heartbroken for a year and a day
My adultery put my child to bed in shame
She's not feeling well. She won't come out to play
All he other girls and boys, they know what's best :
Forgive the past and live for the present

These are the growing pains
Love is born; life must change
These are the growing pains
The breakdown of the barricades
There's fear and cowardice to be overcome
By instinct, force and momentum

Poppy Fields

I scrub my blackened feet
Scrape off the caked on grime of the street
I wash my hands and face
Of the Worldly soot that accumulate
In the day-in day-out farcical strife
In the humdrum of everyday life
And I enter my home clean
Step up to the hearth I've deemed my own

I sit down on the bidet
And shower my flower of the decay
That sets in when she lets in a guest
For recreation no creation, her slight protest
And I enter my bed clean
Lay down my head and dream of another world

The desert springs to life
The golden chaparral gives up her rights
To poppy fields for miles
And purple lupin lavender behind
Another world

Waking with the sun
The poppy petals peel back to open
And turn the hills orange
To start another cycle of seasons
Another world

We dance as whooping cranes
Who once again have found their lifetime mates
We bound across the plains
Roll down slopes, fill our white coats with stains
Of another world

We come to rest as one
At the bottom of the hill, start to make love
We lean against the earth
Rocking back and forth and back and forth, back and forth
Another world

Under a wild sky setting sun
We ride the waves towards something still to come
Another world

Hijikata

He danced on his deathbed
And so performed his final dance
For friends, family, and lovers
And all those who'd had the chance
To know him, to love him

My domesticated body
And my mind by moderation tamed
Seethe within my xerox-copied skin
And I ask him : "Is all freedom dark"

One thousand and one birds
Take off in an instant
Flying-feeling-filling through the air
And I ask them : "Is all freedom light"

He danced on his deathbed
And so performed his final dance
For friends, family, and lovers
And all those who'd had the chance
To know him, to love him

Age of Reason

In my age of reason
Complicated by feeling
I dream of impossible things
I dream of impractical things

In my age of anxiety
Complicated by destiny
I waste away the day

In my age of anger
Complicated by female matters
I scream mutiny

In my age of desperation
Complicated by ambition
I shoot myself in the foot

In my age of envy
Complicated by money
I go for broke

In my age of doubt
Complicated by our falling out
I pray to an unexistent God

In my age of reason
Complicated by feeling
I dream of impossible things
I dream of impractical things

The way

I’ve been looking for a way out
Of this crazy situation now--
The world in crisis; seems like paradise
Was lost and won’t be found
And all of life is endangered
And on the verge of breaking down.

I wake up all fear and dread-locked
By all the things I cannot talk about.
We built our house of cards on ignorance,
A landfill of deceit. The walls are hollow
And we listen, worry what they will secrete.

Woe woe woe woe is we.

We all know they’ve got it fixed
In politico-economics.
We’re junking bonds; we’re dropping
Bombs we’ve made by guzzling gasoline.
Public confidence is shaken
Like the apple from the tree.

Namu Amida Butsu, gomen.
Forgive me for my trespasses.
I do my best to exist east of Eden,
West of garbagetown, over-accumulated
Karma. Armageddon, full meltdown.

Woe woe woe woe is me.

I’ve been looking for a way out
Of this crazy situation now--
Our world in crisis; seems like paradise
Was lost and won’t be found
And both our lives are endangered
And on the verge of breaking down.

Woe woe woe woe is we.

Then the garden gates swing wide,
And we enter paradise.
We are angels; we are good.
We open our wings; we’ve understood
How time and change are fine,
They’re the way. They’re the way.

What if we do

We sit in the grass and we talk of our pasts,
A rollcall of all our lovers.
A feeling arises we both recognize.
We could fulfill each other.
What if we do?

We each have travelled and come to a rest.
We’re trying to make things happen.
Neither of us know how to measure success.
Hey, we could fall in love and be happy.
What if we do?

All the butterflies rise to the surface.
I say stupid things when I get nervous.
Watch the sunset, forget all the chatter
All the butterflies say it don’t matter.

It’s getting late. We had better head back.
We could stop and get some dinner.
There’s a full moon rising, the stars are aligned.
We could spend the night together.
What if we do?

My room is white

My room is white, the walls
And all my appliances, all compliances.
I live in silence, my windows
Closed to traffic, all that racket.
You are the opposite. I could never fit
Into your apartment.

Are we going to give up or (are) we going to try?
Are we going to give up or (are) we going to try to learn what life is?

The tide comes in, and we’re caught
By the rocks and the wetness neverendless.
We kiss for the first time, our lips and tongues
Tied in fitness, infiniteness.
Then the ocean pulls back somehow,
To reveal a crowd of uncertainty.

Are we going to live up to the words we said?
Are we going to live up to love we made? Made? Made?

A house, a garden, a family tree,
Fruit aplenty, all varieties.
Desire fulfilled, inspired until
The awakening from our daydreaming.
Here in reality, what we make believe
We can make happen.

Are we going to give up or are we going to try?
Are we going to live up or are we going to die tonight?

Are we going to give up or are we going to try?
Are we going to give up or are we going to try to learn what life is?

The last night of winter

Thanks for your letter. It made me feel better. I was down,
And it gave me a lift; appeared the Goodyear blimp.
The tree out your window is covered in pink snow.
You put a few blossoms in the envelope. I didn’t know.
Now on the sidewalk, outside my p.o. Box, I’m a parade.
I’m confetti of fuschia hearts. We are never really apart.

You dreamed of me the last night of summer.
You dreamed of me the last night of summer.

You were coming. I was leaving. We met in the harbor
Where whaling ships dock. We threw some rocks.
Everyone wanted you. I was not immune to the fever
That overtook the cast and crew. I couldn’t get to you.
But I had a secret, a torch to give you. I stole an hour
Or two to share the fruit I grew with you.

I dreamed of you the last night of winter.
I dreamed of you the last night of winter.

(Hidden treasure, buried long ago, of immeasurable gold.
I’m drawing a map, connecting the dots, fusing the past to the present.)

I must always remember our moments together
And believe in magic. It exists just beneath the surface.
New York City thinks it knows everything. The buildings,
The people threaten to crush your body, your mind, your soul.
But you keep writing, and i’ll keep writing, and one day
The story will be told. All our oysters will unfold.

You dreamed of me the last night of summer.
I’ll dream of you the last night of winter.

Muscle bone & blood

I am a human being.
I’m made of muscle, bone and blood.
I’m full of awful feelings,
Self-hatred and mistrust.

I need you now to be here with me.
I cannot reach the light.
I need you now to believe in me.
I’ve been giving up the fight.

I am a selfish monster,
Cold-blooded and remote.
My words are flaming daggers.
They send you up in smoke.

I need you now to abandon me.
My heart is in a knot.
I need you now to put your hands on me.
Let’s give it one more shot.

I am a reckless woman.
I always make such a mess.
I follow my intuition
Into the vampire’s nest.

I want to change for the better,
Clean the slate, be good forever.

I am a human being.
I’m made of muscle, bone and blood.
I’m full of awesome feelings
Like unconditional love.

I want you and me together,
Faithfully and through all weather.

Casa nova

I can fall in love again.
I can feel the curse you cast is over.
No more no more Casanova.
Hip hip hurray, oh hallelujah.

I haven’t changed much in these ten years.
I hit my head up against the wall
Of my same ol’ fears, my same ol’ fears,
My same ol’ tears. I’m breaking mirrors.

I know myself again.
I remember what is good about me
If I let it out of hiding,

My enemy, proven to keep me down
Love as a memory of kindness
And cruelty and cruelty
And honesty and true beauty.

I can fall in love again.
I can feel the curse I cast is over.
No more no more Casanova.
Hip hip hurray, oh Supernova,
Supernova, Supernova, Four-Leaf Clover.

Luna lune

Luna Lune,
Let me see your other side.
One you never show to the world
Show to me.

Luna Lune,
You are all reflection,
Sign, symbol, second nature.
Reveal yourself to me.

Luna Lune, luna lune,
Lay down and deep with me
In silent space.

Here you come and go again.
Here you come and go again away.

Luna Lune,
Let me see your other side.
One you never show to the world
Show to me.

Tongue-tied

Looking for a window into your soul.
If and when I find it, will the blinds be closed?

I drag me up the drainpipe,
Leap for the fire ladder.
Seventeen stories,
And I’m still climbing higher.

Looking for a window into your soul.
If and when I find it, will the blinds be closed?

I went to Samy’s Camera
To buy binoculars,
Took home a tall telescope
Ten thousand times power.

Looking for a window into your soul.
If and when I find it, will the blinds be closed?

I set up on a rooftop
Just across the way.
In the summer, sweat poured.
In the winter, it was rain.

Looking for a window into your soul.
If and when I find it, will the blinds be closed?

Looking for a window into your heart.
If and when I find it, will the insides be dark?
Looking for a window into your mind.
If and when I find it, will we both be tongue-tied?

Deep at sea

I am deep at sea.
I made myself break free
Of the anchor keeping me
Safe and sound in sanity,
Safe inside my old routine.

I am far from land.
I have left in my hand
A few grains of sand,
And I try to understand
The world in all its expanse.

Alone again, I hope to find
A greater kindness, peace of mind,
A faith, a joy in my core.
I leave my love on familiar shores.

I am deep at sea.
The waves roll over me.
Tossed among eternity,
I am as much as everything.
I am good for nothing.

Alone again, I hope to find
A greater kindness, peace of mind,
A faith, a joy in my core.
I head for some unknown shore.

I am deep at sea.
I am swimming. I am free.
A great love envelops me.
I feel a part of something.
This life, it is for living.

The truth is growing stronger.
My youth is getting farther.

I am deep at sea.

I gave you my home

I gave you my home.
I gave you my hope.
The walls, they surround us,
Unbound us. We are one.

I gave you my heart.
I gave you my art.
All of creation
Is here in my kitchen.
Soup is on.

Lover, lover.
Come on over.

You gave me your home.
You gave me your hope,
Built us an altar
Of bronze and redwood timber.
The stairs are done.

You gave me your heart.
You gave me your art,
Drawings and flowers
And so many hours.
Night has come.

Lover, lover
Roll on over.

We woke up from dreams,
Took turns at the sink.
We crawl back into bed.
There are eggs for an omelette,
If you’re hungry.

Lover, lover
Turn me over.

River river river river
River of life
River river river river
River of life

The very first morning
Of our great love understanding
We talked until we were not able
Touching underneath the table

The purple rocky mountains
Of the new world rose out of darkness
We stumbled into our reflection
And the sun shone straight in our direction

River river river river
River of life
River river river river
River of life

Dia, todo dia, todo dia
Everyday everyday

The very first morning
Of our great love understanding
The sun rose straight in our direction
And awakened our perfection

River river river river
River of life
River river river river
River of life

Freedom from oppression
Self-expression for everyone
For everyone, everyday
Dia, todo dia, todo dia
Everyday everyday

River river river river
River of life
River river river river
River of life

The very first morning
Of our great love understanding
We talked until we were not able
Touching underneath the table

The purple rocky mountains
Of the new world rose out of darkness
We stumbled into our reflection
And the sun shone straight in our direction

River river river river
River of life
River river river river
River of life

The present moment is revealed
To contain all that is real
We walk along the cliffs
Atop groundlessness
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

The present moment is revealed
To contain all that is real
No orders no borders no relatives
No formers no futures no precedence
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

The present moment is revealed
To contain all that is real
We walk along the cliffs
Atop groundlessness
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

On the night of a thousand kisses
On the night of a thousand kisses
We looked into the void
We looked into the void

On the night of a thousand questions
On the night of a thousand questions
We looked into each other
We looked into each other

On the night of a thousand tidal waves
On the night of a thousand freshwater pearls
We looked a lot like the moon
Hills and valleys, almost full

Big bad wolf & black widow spider

There was a black widow spider.
Big bad wolf sat down beside her.
“Hey now what’s up, my little ladybug?
Can I lie here by your shiny web?”

“Yes sir, my pleasure please.
You put me at ease
On the lonely road.

Take, take my time.
The scenery is fine.
And we belong.”

Big bad wolf to black widow spider,
One hundred proof, rubber souls on fire,
“I gotta go now. I have no attention.
No way home. And no direction.”

“Please, don’t go yet
We have just met
On the lonely road.

Wait, we’ll take our time
We’ll be just fine
Where we belong.

“Please, don’t go yet
We have just met
On the lonely road.

Wait, we’ll take our time
We’ll be just fine
On the lonely road.”

Sleepless Nights

David, is it true that fear is lavender
How do you walk the waves so free
Fear is an ocean of unknown proportion
It strikes me down some sleepless nights
Some sleepless nights, some sleepless nights, some sleepless nights

Out on the patio, I told you how long ago
I had abandoned my will
Under the circumstance, I really had no chance
The loss, the let-down, the lameness haunt me still
How far we go along the road away from ourselves
How far we go along the road away from ourselves

We were not getting along, retreat already begun
Though we made it through the night
Time came to climb the wall
I was hoping I would fall back onto your side
When one is hurt, and one is meek, and one is lost

Love is like that lilac wine
It makes you drunk; it makes you cry
tears and laughter, ecstasy
Our bodies move in harmony

We walked into town to find the man we found
His wife served us rice and beans and beer
We got just what we wanted
headed down to the ocean’s mouth to make our peace again
How far we go along the road to find ourselves
How far we go along the road to find ourselves

(La Ninja: Amor And Other Dreams Of Manzanita LP)

Okay, I understand
That we can never be
More than a moment
More than a midsummer’s dream
A page torn out and crumpled
A memory fading

It’s a shame with life so short
Knock knock. I opened my door
Oh to be understood
here in the neighborhood
Holy communion
brother and sisterdom
Is all that’s left for us
So get back on the bus

She, I know her name
Must be quite something
Oh to hold you
In my arms all night
I never told you
The things I thought I might

Oh well, I’ll keep it to myself
For there will be many rainy days
Extreme happiness
Brings extraordinary pain
Me in my fortress
Bleed just the same
It’s over us
This moment will pass

Kokoro, kokoro, kokoro, kokoro *
Kokoro
Kokoro, kokoro, kokoro, kokoro
Kokoro

Break, break, break my broken heart
Take, take, take my open arms

Kokoro, kokoro, kokoro, kokoro
Kokoro
Kokoro, kokoro, kokoro, kokoro
Kokoro

You come to me
In dreams
We’re so hungry
Ghost, I love you
Wherefore art thy mate
Here inside me
Wait until I wake
And don’t forget your watch
And close the screen door latch

Can I Borrow You

Can I borrow, borrow you
Until tomorrow afternoon
We’ll find that feeling
We’ll find that feeling
We’ll find that feeling
We’ll find that feeling

Can I borrow, borrow you
Until tomorrow afternoon
We’ll find the meaning
We’ll find the meaning
We’ll find the meaning
We’ll find the meaning

Can I borrow, borrow you
Until tomorrow afternoon
We’ll find that feeling
We’ll find that feeling
We’ll find that feeling
We’ll find that feeling

Can I borrow, borrow you
Until tomorrow afternoon
We’ll find the meaning
We’ll find the meaning...

In The End

My inhibition
Your indifference
Are almost finished
I wait until the end

In the end
You say nothing
Can't lift a hand
You must see me suffering
Or is the distance deeper than that

Deeper than that
Is my love for you
Even if it never gets back to you
Back to the drawing board
Picture yourself in a new light
What's all that suffering for
I'm left, you’re right
You're always right

After the hurricane
When nobody cared or came
Where was our consciousness
Lost in some other interest
In the end

My inhibition
Your indifference
Are almost finished
Why wait until the end

You say nothing
Can't lift a finger
Running on empty
You have no love to give her

Are we so different
Evolution made us so
I'm all relationship
You're on your own
I'm on my own
With my love for you
Even if it never gets back to you

Rocketship
Leaving the atmosphere
One last breath of earthly fear
Never fear, never fear
Hush now my dear

Old World New World

It’s an old world, old world
It’s an old world
It’s an old world, old world
It’s an old world

It’s an old world, old world
It’s an old world
I devise a better way to be
Maybe not for you
But it may be for me

It’s a new world, new world
It’s a new world
It’s a new world, new world
It’s a new world

It’s a new world, new world
It’s a new world
A new world, new world
It’s a new world

I devise a better way to be
Maybe not for you
But it may be for me

It’s a new world, new world
It’s a new world
A new world, new world
It’s a new world

In lives past
We’ve crossed paths
So many times before
Here and now
Among this crowd
We meet again somehow
Again again again again again again.

In your eyes, I recognize
I see an open door
I have known you, and you have known me
And we can know much more
And more, and more, and more
And more and more and more

We are not strangers
We’ve had all eternity
To arrive now at this moment
Our syncronicity
It is a mystery
We must investigate our union

In lives past
We’ve crossed paths
So many times before
Here and now
Among this crowd
We meet again somehow
Again again again again again again

Here is my hand
I know the way
I’ll hold you close
You lead us away
A way, a way
A way a way, I know a way

We could take this time
Submit to the sublime
Lose ourselves in each other.
Forget the circumstance
Fall into a romance
After which there will be no other

In your eyes, I recognize
I see an open door
I have known you, and you have known me
And we can know much more
And more, and more, and more
And more and more and more

Anywhere Anyone

I love you, I love you
I love you, I love you

How can you love me if you don't love yourself
I love you (I love you)
How can you love me if you don't love yourself
I love you (I love you)

How can you love me if you don't love yourself
I love you
How can you love me if you don't love yourself
I love you
How can I love you if I don't love myself
I love you

We're not going anywhere
Sun is bright and standing still, it's alright
We're not going anywhere
Sun is bright and standing still, it's alright
We're not going anywhere
Sun is bright and standing still, it's alright
We're not going anywhere
We're not going anywhere
Sun is bright and standing still, it's alright.
We're not going anywhere
Anywhere

I love you
How can you love me if you don't love yourself
I love you, anyway
I love you
I love you, anyway
I love you

Chained To The Moon

(Folk Implosion feat. Mia Doi Todd / One Part Lullaby LP)

I am falling
Drifting, trapped inside the story
Am I chained to the moon
Will the sun take over in the morning

Filling my lungs with sky
What can I see from here
The beauty had nowhere to hide
And nothing to fear

I'm kicking against the tide
That pulls me away from here
The future is nowhere to hide
But something to fear

I am falling
Drifting, trapped inside the story
Am I chained to the moon
Will the sun take over in the morning

The dream demands, the magic is planned
Climb the sky and tell the story
Hand over hand, eyes on the moon
Till the sun takes over in the morning

I'm killing my sense of time
It told me I moved too slow
Taking what's left of my pride
And letting it go

Filling my lungs with sky
Never know what this mean
Words of shadow behind
A step in-between

I am falling
Drifting, trapped inside the story
Am I chained to the moon
Will the sun take over in the morning

The dream demands, the magic is planned
Climb the sky and tell the story
Hand over hand, eyes on the moon
Till the sun takes over in the morning

I am falling
Drifting, trapped inside the story
Am I chained to the moon
Will the sun take over in the morning
(Always remind me, words are behind me)
(Welcome to the silence, fill it with the sky)

I am falling
I am falling
I am falling
I am falling

( Ammoncontact – With Voices, 2006 )

Down in the valley
Where the green garden grows
By the river, under fig tree
Down in the valley
Where the green garden grows
We walked hand in hand
Through whispering meadow

Earth’s children
(where the) green garden grows
Earth’s children

We were like tigers
We come to drink
Of the sweet water
Life giving

Earth’s children
Down in the valley
Where the green garden grows
Earth’s children
By the river
Earth’s children
Under fig tree
Earth’s children
Down in the valley
Earth’s children
Where the green garden grows
Earth’s children
We walked hand in hand
Earth’s children
Earth’s children
Earth’s children
We walked hand in hand
Life giving
Down in the valley
Where the green garden grows
By the river, under fig tree

La Vie En Rose

(Edith Piaf cover / The Unaccompanied Voice: An Acapella Compilation LP)

Des yeux qui font baisser les miens
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche
Voilà le portrait sans retouche
De l'homme auquel j'appartiens

Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose
Il me dit des mots d'amour
Des mots de tous les jours
Et ça me fait quelque chose
Il est entré dans mon cœur
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause
C'est lui pour moi
Et moi pour lui dans la vie
Il me l'a dit, l'a juré pour la vie
Et dès que je l'aperçois
Alors je sens en moi
Mon cœur qui bat

Des nuits d'amour à plus finir
Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place
Des ennuis, des chagrins s'effacent
Heureux, heureux à en mourir

Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose
Il me dit des mots d'amour
Des mots de tous les jours
Et ça me fait quelque chose
Il est entré dans mon cœur
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause
C'est toi pour moi et moi pour toi dans la vie
Tu me l'as dit, l'a juré pour la vie

Et dès que je l'aperçois
Je le sens en moi
Mon coeur qui bat

La la la la la...

Norwegian Wood

( The Beatles Cover / La ninja (amor and other dreams of manzanita) )

I once had a boy, or should I say, he once had me.
He showed me his room, isn’t it good, norwegian wood

He asked me to stay and he told me to sit anywhere
I looked around and I noticed there wasn’t a chair

I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine.
We talked until two and then he said, it’s time for bed

He told me he worked in the morning and started to laugh
I told him I didn’t and crawled off to sleep in the bath

And when I awoke I was alone, this bird had flown
So I lit a fire, isn’t it good, norwegian wood

( Dntel - Jukebox Series #10, 2006 )

I was feeling pretty good
Thought I finally understood
How to be free, free, free, free
Like the birds, like the bees
Like the wind in the trees
So I went out on a limb
Thinking maybe we could swim
Into the river of light
Into the ocean of pain
Where angels get their wings
Where babies get their names
I wonder if you are aware
How much
You rock my boat
I wonder if you are aware
How much
You rock my boat
I wonder if you are aware
How much
You rock my boat
You rock my boat

( Saul Williams feat. Mia Doi Todd / Saul Williams LP )

Saul Williams:
I drive a yellow Volvo. '86 submarine
Someone's behind me in an escalade trying to blind me with their high beams
I make a left. I'm the road to nowhere, heading west
The sky is purple streaks. The sun is setting in my chest. I feel warm inside
So I'm going for a ride
Put your picture on my dashboard 'til my fate and yours collides

Mia Doi Todd:
Seaweed washed upon the shore
Severed locks of he who walks the ocean floor

Saul Williams:
I drive a yellow Volvo. '86 submarine
Rims like Tibetan prayer wheels and my tank is filled with dreams
Fuck the game, I practice being in the passing lane
And watch the price of gasoline rise with the price of fame
I'm immortal. I render unto Caesar to be cordial
He sees a wooden casket where I see a glowing portal. Check your engine
Looks like you're running on the blood of Indians
Put some turquoise in that Rolls Royce before you crash into a pendulum

Mia Doi Todd:
Seaweed washed upon the shore
Severed locks of he who walks the ocean floor

Saul Williams:
I drive a yellow Volvo. '86 submarine
I drove it under water guided by my own high beams
Nothing's left. Witnessed the demolition of the west
I feel like a little kid hiding in my mothers' dress. I'm in space
The lone ambassador of every race
The starfish that discover me plant their flags into my face
I'm a clone of every written and unwritten poem
A shark pulls up beside me fingering beads and chanting om. I can't believe it
I never really thought that sharks would need it
I thought they'd make their peace: bite it, bleed it, kill it, eat it. But I was wrong
Every living being deserves a song.
And our passions must be rationed 'til our rations sing along

(Nobody feat. Mia Doi Todd / Keepintime: A Live Recording LP)

The mother of all creatures
You can know her
Though not by name
Though not by name

The mother of all creatures
You can know her
Though not by name
Though not by name

You find her in the music
In the moment, in the morning
You find her on the sidewalk
At the stoplight, in your lover
In the birds, in the bees
At the Lín orange trees
The rivers, the oceans,
In turned streams

Skyscrapers, record players
Your wife and your neighbours
In you and me and everything

Things Happen

( 45 Seconds Of : LP )

It takes such a long time
To make things happen
Such a long time
To see things through

It takes such a long time
To make things happen
Such a long time
To see things through

It takes such a long time
To make things happen
Such a long time
To see things through